Liquid crystal displays are commonly used as display devices for compact electronic apparatuses. This is because they not only provide good quality images with little power consumption, but also they are very thin. The liquid crystal in a liquid crystal display cannot emit light itself. The liquid crystal needs be lit by a light source, so as to clearly and sharply display text and images. Thus, a backlight module for an LCD is generally needed.
Referring to FIG. 5, a typical backlight module 10 includes a light guide plate 14, a reflector 11, two lamps 12, and at least one figure of eight-shaped ring 13. The light guide plate 13 includes a light incident surface 141, a light emitting surface 142, and a bottom surface 143. The light incident surface 141 is perpendicular to both the light emitting surface 142 and the bottom surface 143. The bottom surface 143 is parallel to the light emitting surface 143. The reflector 11 includes a side wall 111 and two arms 112, 113. The two arms 112, 113 perpendicularly extend from the side wall 111 in a same direction. The two arms 112, 113 abut an end portion (not labeled) of the light emitting surface 142 and an end portion (not labeled) of the bottom surface 143 respectively, thereby defining a space 15 between the light incident surface 141 and the reflector 11. The lamps 12 are received in the space 15, in order to provide light beams to the light incident surface 141 of the light guide plate 14. The lamps 12 are linear and are parallel to each other. The figure of eight-shaped ring 13 is used to fix the two lamps 12. End portions (not shown) of the lamps 12 are fixed with rubber caps (not shown). The lamps 12 are typically cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs).
Some modern liquid crystal displays, such as liquid crystal display televisions, are being made very large. Correspondingly, these liquid crystal displays require long lamps 12. However, long lamps 12 are liable to bend. In addition, the lamps 12 are particularly susceptible to breakage when subjected to shock. Furthermore, if the lamps 12 bend toward the light incident surface 141 and touch the light guide plate 14, the backlight module 10 is liable to produce a white-dot phenomenon. That is, the quality of light output by the backlight module 10 is impaired.
What is needed, therefore, is a backlight module that can overcome the above-described deficiencies.